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IN just three decades of existence, this tiny southeast Asian republic has achieved a level of economic development that rivals Europe.

But the boom has also produced a new generation of Singaporeans who are perhaps the most materialistic and status-conscious in Asia, and has created a growing wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers.

Debate in the local media on social issues has become much more common, and even political leaders are getting into the act.

During this month's 35th National Day celebrations, many of the Singaporean ministers' speeches touched on the theme of preserving national cohesiveness in the face of the income divide, and other challenges Singapore faces as it dives head-on into globalization.

In his National Day message, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong observed: "Whether we like it or not, every Singaporean is now competing against the rest of the world."

Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of the architect of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, kicked off a debate about Singapore's social values when he said that Singaporeans must change their social attitudes to respect workers no matter what job they do.

Lee observed that although many companies have been creating new jobs this year, many employees have also been laid off. These retrenched workers, usually more than 50 years old, are finding it difficult to get new jobs given the demand for specialized skills, such as those in the information technology sector.

"Not all workers retrenched from an electronics factory may succeed in learning to work in a wafer-fab plant," he said. "Yet, they may be unwilling to become a sweeper or cleaner, jobs which pay well and which they can do."

Such manual jobs here are done by foreign workers mainly from Bangladesh, India and Thailand.

Lee argues that older Singaporeans could more easily take on jobs now considered menial -- if social attitudes are changed so that workers are respected regardless of the jobs they hold.

"Almost a quarter of the population here today are foreign workers," Pradip Ganesh, a Singaporean nearing his 50th birthday, pointed out to IPS.

"With these foreign workers highly visible and very much in the public spotlight, there is widespread resentment among the grassroots that they are not being well looked after by the government," he explained.

"This could spill over to the political domain with dire consequences to the government's popularity," he warned.

The People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore since its birth in 1965, is known for its political savvy, and these rumblings have prompted the government to encourage public debate about Singapore's values.

In recent months, there have been conferences and seminars organized by thinktanks like the Institute of Policy Studies to discuss social and economic issues. The government has also held a number of closed-door dialogues known as "Feedback Units" with grassroots communities.

All these have been well attended, and some have reportedly featured vigorous debates. Internet-savvy Singaporeans have also hit chatrooms and discussion forums to debate these issues.

Responding to those who blamed the government for failing to bridge the income gap in Singapore, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng pointed out that the gap between the rich and poor "has never been eradicated by any government anywhere."

He argued that the best solution was for the government and the community at large to cooperate to look after those who were left behind, while ensuring that the best be rewarded for their efforts. In recent weeks, the results of a spate of public surveys on Singaporean social values have been published in the newspapers.

These include topics like the nation's high level of materialism, why career-minded women in their mid-30s are not interested in marriage, whether foreign workers should be better treated, and why Singaporeans shun volunteer work.

One telephone survey done by the English-language daily Straits Times found that most people here value their families and will attend to their needs, but one in three also said that they would not consider doing charity work.

"Contributing to society" ranked last of four life goals, after having a happy family, making more money, and achieving an interesting career.

In another survey among teenagers, the newspaper found that money ranks high for Singapore's youth because they want the latest technological gadgets, such as mobile phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, mini-disc players and Internet-enabled phones.

"We're a very status-conscious society," said 20-year-old Andy Lim. "People look at what you have and size you up accordingly."

"Singaporeans look down on people who do not belong to their social class," said construction supervisor Muhamad Mustaffa, adding that engineers, clerks and secretaries in his workplace never mix with him and can sometimes be very rude.

In recent months, the treatment of foreign workers has been given media attention, particularly cases in which immigrants were barred from social clubs where their employers were members.

A number of court cases have also been filed involving abuse of domestic workers, with the accused being women of high social standing.

There are some 100,000 foreign domestic workers here, mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Associate Professor Brenda Yeoh of the National University of Singapore says that many people argue that "putting people in their place" contributes to social cohesion.

But she rejects this argument, saying it was precisely the rationale put forward to justify South African apartheid.